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Copy Existing Filename to 'Save As' Field

While many utilities provide file naming automation, they're mostly overkill for those cases when you need to make small variations in file content while ensuring the documents group together in a "by name" list.

In the Save As dialog, the default name is the current document name. You can quickly change this to match any existing file.

1. Make the list of files the active element.

2. Click on a grayed-out filename, which momentarily turns black.

3. The Save As field now contains the filename you just clicked.

You can modify the name (adding, say, "version 3") or overwrite that existing file you clicked.

Final Cut Now Ready to Serve

With most Apple products, the wait between the announcement and shipping can seem unending (see the iPhone, Apple TV, and Leopard for recent examples). It's rare to forget about something new from Apple, but that's exactly what I did with Final Cut Server, which started shipping this week. Apple announced the software along with Final Cut Studio 2 in April 2007, at which point availability was expected during the third quarter last year (see "Apple Announces Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server," 2007-09-07).

No doubt it fell off my radar because it's not geared toward most consumers. Final Cut Server is an industrial-strength asset management tool, designed to keep track of terabytes of video, audio, photos, and other materials that need to be at hand for film and video pros. It can catalog assets, generate low-resolution thumbnails and proxies, allow multiple editors to check materials in and out (with version control), output projects using Compressor, and more. A Java-based client program enables cross-platform access to the server.

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